Five Healthy Reasons to Eat Ice Cream??

“There’s nothing like a refreshing scoop of rocky road or very berry strawberry on a hot summer day — but if you’re very health conscious, you might pass on ice cream no matter the season. Well, what if we told you it isn’t so bad for you after all? In fact, if eaten in moderation, ice cream has some surprising health benefits. We’ve got the scoop on five reasons to treat yourself“, was the opening line in a recent article entitled ‘Five Healthy Reasons to Eat Ice Cream‘. So what are these five mysterious reasons? Let’s read on…

Lose WeightA study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that women who ate at least one daily serving of full-fat dairy products, such as ice cream, gained less weight than those who didn’t. Hmmm… now how would this compare to people who ate vegetables (gasp), wild proteins (oh. my), healthy, natural fats and avoided processed man-made items, I dare wonder?

Fight InfertilityA Harvard study published in the journal Human Reproduction showed that women who ate full-fat ice cream two or more times a week had a 38% lower risk of ovulation-related infertility than women who had full-fat ice cream less than once a week. And this compares to people who exercise regularly, sleep properly, rest and relax how, exactly?

Important NutrientsIce cream provides your body with a handful of key nutrients, including bone-strengthening calcium and phosphorus, blood-pressure-lowering potassium and energizing B vitamins. It also provides a decent amount of protein, which is important in tissue repair and cell growth. Ok. So people are eating ice cream to get their nutrients? Hardly.

It Makes You SmileResearchers out of the Institute of Psychiatry in London tracked the brain activity of people eating vanilla ice cream. As soon as the participants swallowed ice cream, researchers saw an immediate effect on an area of the brain called the orbitofrontal cortex, a pleasure center that activates when people enjoy themselves. If eating ice cream is the only thing that makes someone smile, there are some larger issues that need to be addresses.

It May Boost Your Sex DriveIce cream has fairly high levels of calcium and phosphorus, both of which help build your muscles’ energy reserves and boost your libido. So many things can factor into one’s libido and eating ice cream in an attempt to address a lack of it isn’t far off from putting a band-aid on a broken bone. If you have a low libido, something’s off and it needs to be investigated, not smothered with milk, cream and white sugar.

Look- if you’re going to eat ice cream, own it. It’s not healthy, it’s certainly not Paleo and it’s just a way to get a sugar fix. Plain and simple. Yes, I had ice cream as a child and yes, I do have memories of the few times we went out for a cone, but that’s it. It’s not something that I need to recreate as an adult any more than I want to lie on the floor and paint by numbers. There are plenty of other things to do and ways to get our nutrients, boost our fertility and keep smiling than eating ice cream. Funny how we, as a society, keep doing things like this. Eating one thing that’s clearly not remotely nourishing and then adding protein to it to call it a healthy choice for a meal. Please.